Record Store Day Clarifies Confusion Surrounding Vinyl Tuesday

BY Alex HudsonPublished May 28, 2015

A couple of days ago, Record Store Day announced that it would launching an event called Vinyl Tuesday that would be bringing new releases to participating indie stores on a weekly basis. Now, the organizers have issued a statement to clarify some of the confusion surrounding the event, which they say should not be considered a weekly Record Store Day.

In the statement, the organizers assert that Record Store Day will remain an annual event taking place on the third Saturday in April. (They strangely make no mention of the Black Friday spinoff, however.) Vinyl Tuesday, on the other hand, is primarily a response to the industry's upcoming global shift to a Friday release day, they state.

Evidently the folks at RSD (and some of its store-owning associates) believe that Friday is wrong for a global release day, and by releasing physical music on Tuesdays, they hope to "[allow] physical retailers to have something fresh to sell and to talk about during the week, and [let] those releases not just get lost on the increasingly crowded Friday/weekend."

There won't be RSD-style exclusive releases every Tuesday (although there will be some peppered throughout the year). Rather, organizers will be encouraging music-makers to release the physical editions of albums on Tuesdays rather than Fridays. In some cases, this could mean that albums that already have a CD or digital release will get a Tuesday street date for the vinyl version.

The organizers wrote, "It's really a pretty simple thing, and it's definitely not a weekly Record Store Day. But it is in line with what we do all year long already, which is to promote and support indie record stores."

Meanwhile, the global shift to a Friday release day will start on July 10.

You can read the entire statement from RSD below:

Despite what you may have read on blog and website posts with inaccurate headlines, Record Store Day is not "about to go weekly". Record Store Day, the third Saturday in April, is and will remain a special celebration of the independent record store, with limited edition, exclusive releases on vinyl, CD and other formats as one part of that party. Record Store Day, the organization of volunteers who work year-round to spread the word about indie record stores, will continue to do just that, and one way is with what we're calling Vinyl Tuesday. (Yes, we gave it a name because a name and logo go a long way towards getting things publicized in this world we live in).



Recently, a group of people, mostly outside the US, decided that physical music releases would start coming on Fridays, globally. (For the record, a global streetdate makes sense, but for a lot of valid reasons, which were outlined to this group, many retailers and others affected by this think Friday is the wrong day.) Vinyl Tuesday is a way for us to encourage artists, labels, distributors and managers to continue to release physical music on Tuesdays when they can. This allows physical retailers to have something fresh to sell and to talk about during the week, and lets those releases not just get lost on the increasingly crowded Friday/weekend.



To clarify: we are not planning on having limited edition exclusives created every Tuesday. We are working to have titles continue to be released on Tuesday when they can be. (Lots of those titles are already scheduled to come out, now they'll just come on a Tuesday.) One Vinyl Tuesday may see a reissue that was already in the works being given a Tuesday streetdate. An album whose CD component has already come out might see its vinyl coming on a Vinyl Tuesday. There will be some indie exclusive titles, of course, because those already exist throughout the year, but a lot of Vinyl Tuesday releases will be given a Tuesday street date at all retailers who sell physical media. Every Vinyl Tuesday will be different, will be made up of different kinds of physical releases. What they'll have in common is the day of the week.



It's really a pretty simple thing, and it's definitely not a weekly Record Store Day. But it is in line with what we do all year long already, which is to promote and support indie record stores.

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